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I just received our electric bill for July and you guessed it....the KWH/H charge went up again. We even put our hot water heater on a 2 hour per day timer last month...and it still was higher than last months bill "and" the billing cycle last month was 32 days and this month it was only 30! So my guess is that electric rates went up about 30% in the last month. Most of it in the "Energy Cost Adjustment" section which was almost half the bill.
Guess I'll now have to shut off the fridge and buy all canned and freeze dried foods.
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Mine seems to go up every month, not my KWH/H amount as these are going down with my efforts every month of shutting something else down, just the dollar amount. I just about cry every time it comes in. Every month I shut something else down. I am down to the fridge and freezer as well. I really am looking at solar and wish it was not so expensive to get started, but I think we just need to bite on it and make the payments for the solar with the electric bill payment. I already have the water heater on solar.
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Compact fluorescent bulbs? An "off" switch for the power going to your electronic items such as TV's, computers, printers, monitors, etc? They pull just as much power on hibernate or standby as they do fully powered up. Hang your laundry out to dry? (presuming you are using an electric dryer) Anything that makes heat with electricity is to be avoided at all costs. Electric blankets aren't too bad and small incubators aren't too bad but electric ranges, water heaters, ovens, etcetera are brutal. If you have an old refrigerator or freezer it might be time to replace it with a new one.
You would have to do all these energy saving things before switching over to an off grid system anyway so you may as well switch now and get the savings. When folks quote horrendous prices for installing an off grid systems they have generally used your current electric bill to calculate the size of the system. That may be why so many quotes are "unaffordable". I know of only one off grid system which runs an electric stove and their system is just insanely huge. So do everything you can to cut back on power and when you've got it down to just the bare minimum, get quotes on an off the grid system for that size. It might be more affordable than you think.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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At what point do our politicians and HELCO start planning for the future electricity needs of Hawaii; by creating infrastructure (transmission lines)and developing alternative (geothermal, solar, wind) energy sources? Perhaps they are waiting for the price of oil to drop?
Dan
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Last month our bill did a huge jump. We tried to read our meter and then run around and check all electric appliances to see if they were pulling too much electric. Finally called HELCO, they sent someone out....and guess what??? The meter reader had read our meter wrong!!! I know this is a freak situation....but it sure made our month!!
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Commerical & residential users CAN lease a grid tied PV system, with a locked in rate...
Solar Edison is the commercial firm that supplied Island Natural's Pahoa PV system & residential homeowners can look into Photon Power or Hawaii Solar Power... http://www.hawaiisolarpower.com/
HELCO uses alternative energy.... in fact, Hydroelectric was one of the MAIN sources for much of the beginning of last century... they were looking to expand their Hydroelectric in the late eighties (initially with the blessing of the county officials...).
To understand reluctance to upgrading today, you just need to look at what happened to their project less than twenty years ago....
So don't gripe about someone else doing it, do it yourself....
(we still don't have a high enough bill.... but if it was near $100... we would jump on!
Added... Hydroelectric is preferred as the system lasts for many decades to centuries & here it can give fairly consistant power supply (electric co. hate inconsistant power - they have to have working peak capacity ALWAYS available... PV is great for areas that have peak daytime demand, this county peak demand is evening hours...)
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Take a look at my post a few weeks ago.
"Feel like you are being priced off the island".
http://www.punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?T...s=dirk1609
I guess it's no big deal that Helco, home owners insurance, and property taxes are raping us. According to the people who commented on my post, It's all "normal" here in Hawaii and I guess we are getting a pretty good deal. Just sit back and enjoy Hawaii, and be glad you are not getting hammered for complaining about Helco like I did. If Helco is raising their rates monthly, can you afford next year? Don't worry about planning for the future, just think about Helco evicting you from Hawaii in the next 6 month or so. The best part is that fuel prices are the big excuse Helco uses, but I would bet Helco rates don't go down come fall when Gas prices do. Yippee!
Prepare yourself for the ultra exclusive development called Hawaii, coming VERY soon! It will be a wonderful place where all clothes lines are thankfully replaced with electric dryers, no one ever has dirty chickens or gardens in their yards, and no more eyesores consisting of solar panels, home made rock walls, old vehicals or wind generators Just HUGE beautiful homes, Land Rovers, high heels and Prada bags. The Hawaiians say that white people moving here are taking over their island. In many ways that's very true, however at this point they still have an Island. After Helco is through raping everyone, damn near everyone except the VERY rich will be gone. Just how many Native Hawaiians are VERY rich? Helco and the Hawaiian Government will be the ones that take away the Hawaiian's land by pricing them off of it.
Now I will pad myself and prepare for the Punaweb beating.
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I think you are right. It's a perfect storm where only the people of independent means and the very poor who will be able to hang out in Hawaii. Airfares are very high, there is no plan for alternative energy and oil is going through the roof. Don't blame HECO. Blame policymakers, who, of course are elected, and so we have seen the enemy and it is us.
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In the late 1800s, a Hawaiian leader went t NYC or thereabouts to ask Thomas Edison about this very problem, and they discussed geothermal, and agreed, not yet. Edison recommend water turbine generators which became Hawaii's first electric plant.
If he went today, Edison (or Tesla) would say geothermal! Proven and effectve, and if not touched by goverment will be the way to go. I feel the Hawaiian community could make out over this as they've done in NZ. They are the ones who have the clout, if they could be involved could be a life enhancment for them. Ormat could feed the whole island, and as the transmission is junk, remove it and go underground.
Radical, yeah but if it could tie into Pohakuloa, uncle Dan Inouye or even Abercrombie could swing the funds for the new quick trench electric and IT conduit mechanical digger. Ie: a
ditch Which on sterods. The Fed has been promoting energy efficiency and underground is an idea worth going for.
We would be a good proving ground for this tech, a 3-4' deep trench down the middle of the road for conduit. As the island is fairly sparse, cross water pipes etc should be minimal. Then a conversion to all electric cars! No other place in the world has such potential, wind and solar could still contribute, especially if it went to vehicles. Keep what fuel plants there are as stand by. Get out of the box!
Gordon J Tilley
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gtill, my sentiments exactly. If the Hawaiian people could see geothermal as one of Pele's gifts rather than sacreligeous, we would be half way home.
Dan
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